Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble slid for the first time in
four days as crude oil, Russia’s main export earner, retreated.

The ruble weakened 0.7 percent to 31.4690 per dollar,
leaving it down 0.2 percent in the week as of the 7 p.m. close
of trading in Moscow. The currency rose 0.3 percent to 40.4099
versus the euro and fell 0.2 percent to 35.4924 versus the
central bank’s euro-dollar basket.

Oil dropped as much as 1.8 percent to $85.27 a barrel in
New York as two refineries remained shut on the U.S. East coast
in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Crude and natural gas
account for about 50 percent of Russia’s state revenue.

“This morning’s selloff in the ruble was trigged by
falling oil prices,” said Anton Zakharov, a senior currency and
commodities analyst at Promsvyazbank, said by e-mail today. At
the same time, “the technical picture for the ruble hasn’t
changed, and it’s likely to continue trading against the dollar
in the short term in the range of 31.17 to 31.51.”

The ruble is down 7.9 percent from this year’s peak of
28.9925 versus the dollar on March 26 when oil traded just $2.74
from the high of $109.77 a barrel, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. Russia’s currency lost 1.8 percent last week, the biggest
weekly decline since June.

Bank Rossii will review interest rates on Nov. 9, the
central bank said today. The regulator is likely to leave the
refinancing rate on hold at 8.25 percent, according to a median
estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Non-deliverable forwards showed the ruble at 31.9425 per
dollar in three months.

The extra yield investors demand to own Russia’s dollar
bonds over U.S. Treasuries dropped three basis points to 186,
according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global Index. An index
of five-year government bond yields fell three basis points to
7.0617 percent.